Saturday, 18 October 2014

Our streets are too narrow for cycle paths

I've lost count of how often people have tried to convince me that their city's streets are too narrow to have cycling infrastructure. The three words "not enough space" are repeated as if they are a mantra.

It is often genuinely believed that Dutch towns were built with wider streets and that there is therefore more space here than in other countries. Of course, that's not true at all. If you look around an older city like Assen (over 750 years old) then you find many narrow streets just as you would with any older city in another country. Newer wider streets in the Netherlands are also similar in width to newer wider streets elsewhere. It's the modern day usage of the space which is different, not the width of the streets themselves.

Take a good look at the photo above which shows one of the streets in Assen in 2014. Quite clearly there's "not enough space" here now to accommodate motor vehicles. When people see streets like this then they often guess that there was never enough room and that therefore this street was always much as it is today.

However, that's not actually the case. Look back to 1957 and we find that this same street was completely different. There was an asphalt through road in this location, and it was quite a busy road which could accommodate large vehicles in both directions. While the gap between those buildings looks small, it is in fact just enough to accommodate this traffic so long as you don't mind that pedestrians must cross only at certain places and can walk safely only on one side of the street. Note that no separate space at all was allocated for safe cycling. Cyclists had to use the road along with trucks, buses and cars. There is of course no longer a bus route through this location.

1970s city centre street in Assen. No room for cycle-paths here either. Traffic lights were required to deal with the cars in this location. Cyclists were amongst the cars and pedestrians had little space.

I suspect that this is starting to sound like a familiar situation to some readers in other countries and it was certainly familiar to Dutch cyclists in the 1950s.

The same location in 2014. We don't need traffic lights any more because cars are no longer driven through here. Note how there is ample space for cyclists on a "road" for bikes separate from a wide pedestrian path, and that the pedestrian path has plenty of space on both sides for a textured surface for blind pedestrians.

An observer in the 1950s in the Netherlands might well have pointed out that this street had "not enough space" for a cycle-path at that time. i.e. exactly the same objection as people give about their streets now. And of course they'd be right if the streets were viewed as having to always manage the same combination of vehicles as was the case in 1950s Assen.

1960s. Pedestrians squeezed to the edge while a lone cyclist waits with drivers for a traffic light

So where did the space for people, pedestrians and cyclists, come from ? It came from right underneath where motor vehicles used to be. A second revolution on Dutch streets was required to change things. A decision was made to effect real change. This was not limited to just a few streets, but spread across cities and even the entire nation. Traffic was redirected so that residential areas and the centres of cities could be reclaimed by people.

Now: Pedestrianized with good cycle access

It's worth reflecting on the fact that cycling was in decline in the Netherlands while streets were dominated by cars. It's not difficult to work out why. Transforming the streets reversed this decline. As you look at these photos, consider how convenient and how safe it was to cycle on the streets of Assen in the past vs. how convenient and safe it is today.

1960s: Main through routes for motor vehicles and cyclists alike

Now (2014): Still accessible by motor vehicle but very much a downgraded route. No longer usable as a through route by car so therefore few people drive here. Still a busy through route by bicycle, which no longer requires traffic lights.

Update 2016: Where trucks used to be driven on a main through route, children now play in the fountains

1940s: Major intersection, in this case busier than usual due to an event. Traffic stopped at a junction.

Now: A pleasant place to sit and have a drink. Bicycles flow freely here and it is no longer a bus route

1974: Assen city centre was a car park. The car park was often full.

Now: Assen city centre is a square with cycle parking and where events are held. There's no longer any need to have the streets leading to this area dominated by cars. Note that small children are free to cycle even in the city centre.

People often believe that Dutch cities somehow have more space than other countries. As you can see from these photos, it's simply not true. What happened in Assen and across the Netherlands was that planning on a large scale gave streets a defined purpose rather than all of them operating in a chaotic manner as through routes by car. Motor vehicles were not prioritized above all other transport but careful considerations were made of where they should go and where they should not. Busy roads still exist, but careful junction design removes conflict.

The city centre has changed enormously since this photo was taken in 1972. Infrastructure which was new or under construction at that time to accommodate endlessly more cars in the city centre was removed years ago.

12 comments:

Great article, thanks. Guess the Dutch will need to go through yet another transition soon to allow for 45km/h bicycle commuting. Most likely the popularity of the speed pedelec will grow fast. Just maybe, other countries can skip one or two transitions...

I just looked up 'speed pedelec' and I have to say that this seems like a bad development. The article itself was very good, but the whole Netherlands cycling setup could be ruined by these motorised bikes, I think.

Speed-pedelecs are not really likely to make the differences you both fear. Powered two-wheelers have existed for more than a hundred years already. Some of them four times as fast as speed pedelecs. Makes no difference to what I'm writing about here.

As they have so little to do with this blog post can I ask that you please discuss them under another more relevant story - perhaps under mopeds.

When I hear "not enough space" I like to point out that because bicycle transport is so much more space efficient than car transport, allowing much higher travel capacities, it is precisely those places with least space that are most in need of some of it being repurposed for segregated cycle infrastructure.

Thanks so much for your work. It's important to see that the Netherlands were not always as they are now, and it's important to be reminded of this over and over. Even cycling advocates like me tend to forget...

One must remember there are several reason for narrow roads. The first is most every one walk to where they needed to go a horse was an expensive proposition as they need to be feed, groom and house on a 24/7 bases. The cities of old were also fighting cites and narrow roads and alleyway help make it easer to defend. When planning out a road it would be the width of two carts and measurement of a old roman cart was 4feet 11½ inches.

Excellent article David that makes an important point. I'd be interested in seeing photos of the development of the street in between the photos from the 50's and the more recent photos. Animated GIFs are all the rage nowadays?

Hi David. I hope you still read the comments sections of your older posts.

In my city (Madrid) as in many others, one of the main obstacles to reduce motor traffic on the streets is car parking space.

Residents are usually quite happy to accept speed reductions, usage restrictions for other than themselves, etc, as this means less pollution and noise, but would never, ever let go parking space for their cars.

In some parts of the historic city centre this has been accomplished by building expensive underground parking, free for residents, but this obviously cannot be a general solution.

As keeping car parking space is a must for residents, politicians won't dare to touch it, keeping the car status-quo.

I wanted to ask you how is this solved in dutch cities. In particular, how are residents kept happy.

Mambrino, it's generally the case that residents are provided with car parking. The same desire not to lose the facility of somewhere to park a car exists here as in other countries and car ownership is quite high in the Netherlands. It's usage which is relatively low, due to cycling being a good alterative to driving.

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